Introduction
St Bernard’s College is committed to using and managing personal information provided to or
collected by it in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (‘APPs’) contained in the
Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988. In relation to health records, the College is also bound by the
Health Records Act 2001 (Vic.).
The College may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new
laws and technology, changes to the College’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains
appropriate to the changing College environment.
The Privacy Policy sets out how the College manages personal information provided to or collected
by it.

Guidelines
What kinds of personal information does the College collect and how does the College collect
it?
The type of information the College collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal
information, including health and other sensitive information, about:
•

students and parents and/or guardians ('Parents') before, during and after the course of a
student's enrolment at the College;

•

job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors; and

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other people who come into contact with the College.

Personal Information you provide: The College will generally collect personal information held
about an individual by way of forms (electronic or hardcopy) filled out by Parents or students, faceto-face meetings and interviews, emails and telephone calls. On occasions people other than Parents
and students provide personal information.
Personal Information provided by other people: In some circumstances the College may be
provided with personal information about an individual from a third party, for example a report
provided by a medical professional or a reference from another College.
Exception in relation to employee records: Under the Privacy Act, the Australian Privacy Principles
do not apply to an employee record. As a result, this Privacy Policy does not apply to the College's
treatment of an employee record unless required by law or organisational policy where the treatment
is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between the College and
employee. The College handles staff health records in accordance with the Health Privacy Principles
in the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic.)
Anonymity: The College needs to collect identifiable information to facilitate the delivery of
educational and support services, the job application process and fulfil other obligations and
processes. However, some activities and interactions with the College may be done anonymously
where practicable, which may include making an inquiry, complaint or providing feedback.
How will the College use the personal information you provide?
The College will use personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection,
and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and
reasonably expected by you, or to which you have consented.
Students and Parents
In relation to personal information of students and Parents, the College's primary purpose of
collection is to enable the College to provide educational and support services for the student. This
includes satisfying the needs of Parents, the needs of the student and the needs of the College
throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at the College.

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The purposes for which the College uses personal information of students and Parents include:
•

to keep Parents informed about College matters related to their child through correspondence,
newsletters and magazines;

•

day-to-day administration of the College;

•

looking after students' educational, social and medical wellbeing;

•

seeking donations and marketing for the College; and

•

to satisfy the College's legal obligations and allow the College to discharge its duty of care.

In some cases where the College requests personal information about a student or Parent, if the
information requested is not provided, the College may not be able to enrol or continue the
enrolment of the student or permit the student to take part in a particular activity.
Job applicants and contractors
In relation to personal information of job applicants and contractors, the College's primary purpose
of collection is to assess and (if successful) to engage the applicant, or contractor, as the case may
be.
The purposes for which the College uses personal information of job applicants and contractors
include:
•

administering the individual's employment or contract, as the case may be;

•

for insurance purposes;

•

seeking donations and marketing for the College; and

•

satisfying the College's legal obligations, for example, in relation to child protection legislation.

Volunteers
The College also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the College in its
functions or conduct associated activities, such as [alumni associations], to enable the College and
the volunteers to work together.
Marketing and fundraising
The College treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of the
College as an important part of ensuring that the College continues to provide a quality learning
environment in which both students and staff thrive. Personal information held by the College may
be disclosed to organisations that assist in the College's fundraising, for example, the College's
Foundation or alumni organisation or, on occasions, external fundraising organisations.
Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider College community may from time to
time receive fundraising information. College publications, like newsletters and magazines, which
include personal information, may be used for marketing purposes.
Who might the College disclose personal information to and store your information with?
The College may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an
individual to:
•

College service providers, including the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, (CECV),
Catholic Education Offices specialist visiting teachers, counsellors and sports coaches, and
other diocese;

•

third party service providers that provide educational support services to Colleges and College
systems such as the Integrated Catholic Online Network system (ICON);

•

another College to facilitate the transfer of a student;

•

government departments;

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•

medical practitioners;

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recipients of College publications, such as newsletters and magazines;

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the student’s parents or guardians;

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anyone you authorise the College to disclose information to; and

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anyone to whom we are required or authorised to disclose the information to by law.

Sending and storing information overseas
The College may disclose personal information about an individual to overseas recipients, for
instance, to facilitate a College exchange. However, the College will not send personal information
about an individual outside Australia without:
•

obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied); or

•

otherwise complying with the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy
legislation.

•

The College may also store personal information in the 'cloud' which may mean that it resides
on servers which are situated outside Australia.

The College uses applications or programs where the servers are located outside of Australia. These
countries have adopted the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles and offer similar privacy protection to the
APPs. These include Singapore, the United States and the European Union.
Where personal and sensitive information is retained by the CECV by a cloud service provider to
facilitate HR and staff administrative support, this information will be stored on servers located
within Australia. This includes the Integrated Catholic Online Network (ICON) system.

How does the College treat sensitive information?
In referring to 'sensitive information', the College means: information relating to a person's racial or
ethnic origin, religion, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices or criminal record, that is
also personal information; health information and biometric information about an individual.
Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a
directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the
sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information
The College's staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students' and Parents' personal
information and the privacy of individuals.
The College has in place steps to protect the personal information the College holds from misuse,
interference and loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods
including locked storage of paper records and password access rights to computerised records.

Access and correction of personal information
Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act and the Health Records Act, an individual has the right to
obtain access to any personal information and health records respectively which the College holds
about them and to advise the College of any perceived inaccuracy. Students will generally be able to
access and update their personal information through their Parents, but students who are 18 years
or over may seek access and correction themselves.
There are some exceptions to these rights set out in the applicable legislation.
To make a request to access or update any personal information the College holds about you or your
child, please contact the College Principal by telephone or in writing. The College may require you to
verify your identity and specify what information you require. The College may charge a fee to cover
the cost of verifying your application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material
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requested. If the information sought is extensive, the College will advise the likely cost in advance. If
we cannot provide you with access to that information, we will provide you with written notice
explaining the reasons for refusal.

Consent and rights of access to the personal information of students
The College respects every Parent's right to make decisions concerning their child's education.
Generally, the College will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to the personal
information of a student to the student's Parents. The College will treat consent given by Parents as
consent given on behalf of the student, and notice to Parents will act as notice given to the student.
Parents may seek access to personal information held by the College about them or their child by
contacting the College Principal by telephone or in writing. However, there may be occasions when
access is denied. Such occasions would include where release of the information would have an
unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, or where the release may result in a breach of the
College's duty of care to the student.
The College may, at its discretion, on the request of a student grant that student access to
information held by the College about them, or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the
use of their personal information, independently of their Parents. This would normally be done only
when the the student is 18 years and over and/or the student's personal circumstances warrant it.

Enquiries and complaints
If you would like further information about the way the College manages the personal information it
holds, or wish to complain that you believe that the College has breached the Australian Privacy
Principles please contact the College Principal by writing or telephone. The College will investigate
any complaint and will notify you of the making of a decision in relation to your complaint as soon as
is practicable after it has been made.

Review
The Privacy Policy will be reviewed periodically or as the College Board determines to ensure that the
policy reflects new laws and technology and any other changes applicable to the school environment.